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PolygamousRanchKid writes with this quote from a CNN article:
"The Kentucky Fried Chicken Foundation is asking eligible high school seniors to tweet a photo that illustrates their commitment to education and enriching their communities. The KFC Colonel's Scholars winner, announced December 15, will receive up to $5,000 per year to pursue a bachelor's degree at a public university in his or her home state. ... Other organizations, perhaps weary of wading through applicants' lengthy essays, also are offering eager students ways to turn a 140-character message into money for college. ... Why a tweet? Jodi Schafer, the University of Iowa's director of MBA admissions and financial aid, told USA Today that application essays were 'becoming unoriginal.' She said 'we're hoping that incorporating social media in the process will help bring back some of that creativity.'"

Seriously? A statement only slightly longer than a politician's sound bite is "work"?? Your short little post would be too long for a tweet, actually. There are only so many possible combinations of words that can be fit into 140 characters and still make a sentence. KFC will probably collect them all in this one competition.

On the other hand, almost anyone can say something if given enough words. The ability to be pithy is highly valued, historically and in today's society. How many famous quotes do you know or have often heard that are much longer than a tweet?

Yes he did, I'm pretty sure he's that one troll that has been going around spilling his bile at every "oblig xkcd" post the last couple of days, and is now trying to supply justification for his strange obsession.

Wat? I wasn't saying you're the one spilling bile, I was talking about the AC you replied to (hence saying "he" when directing myself to you). I fully agreed with you -- he did post a completely unrelated xkcd.

In support - learning to improvise, usually in jazz, is sometimes a difficult thing to kick-start. Playing the same pattern, adjusting pitch to match the chord changes, is a standard technique. Play the same thing over and over, pretty soon your brain just wants to do something different.

I've seen well-known people hit a mental block (it's obvious once you listen to piles of them playing the same tune differently). The easy way to get out of it is sit on a sin

Better yet, if most of the essays are unoriginal why not just pick the ones that are original as the winners and post the archive of all past winners so people know what you're looking for. Most high school students think the scholarship funds and colleges want the boiler plate, "this is why I deserve your attention" type essay. It's up to you to lay out the recommendations and ground rules if you really want something beyond that.

I think they were getting more and more duplicate essays copied, at least in part, from web sites.

When the essay is limited to 140 characters, identifying the unoriginal essays is by inspection -- there are only so many possible variations. Longer ones have to be actually read to confirm their unoriginality.

Fuck telling us about the KFC contest, tell us about any upcoming big tragedies so we can save some lives! I guess if things have been pretty calm the winning numbers for all the various state lotteries will work.

Sorry, I've written a few comments to this effect. In my defence, I was talking about a twitter competition, which has already happened. TFS treats the twitter and photo competition as the same thing (mentioning 140 characters, etc.), so I suppose that's why I did too.

Kentucky Fried Chicken Foundation is asking eligible high school seniors to tweet a photo that illustrates their commitment to education

Twitter post.
Photo.

Choose one.

A link to a photo perhaps? If so -- Well, will I get demerits for linking to a blog post with photos, an essay, and comments from the community extolling my dedication to education? Won't the "tweet" be significantly less than 140 characters due to the linked image?

ungrateful, even. Also, the entries so far are really, really bad. And the requisite white winner is still unrepresented - most entries are black people. KFC will not let that fly. Bring in the cute white chicks with $2,000 clothes.

As a society and nation, we cut funding for education from kindergarten through high school; we slash Pell grants and jack up the interest on student loans.

In a global economy where the one thing that we still do quite well is innovation and technology, we make it progressively harder and harder for the next generation to go to school.

On top of this, we allow science to become political and overly influenced by corporate interests, and all too often treat intelligence and knowledge with mistrust. We flock to watch Snookie, but refuse to take the time to teach our kids how to spell.

So - given this as a backdrop - tweeting for a chance to go to school just seems wrong. Not surprising, but it definitely feeds into the culture of mediocrity that we're building for ourselves.

I'm originally self taught, and made pretty good money as a C coder before I figured out I should really go back to school, and get the math, theory and general engineering skills I realized I was missing.

It was one of the best choices I made during my life.

There's a lot more to technical jobs than pressing buttons, knowing things by rote and knowing the incantations to make the magic systems work.

Another advantage of going to school is that one learns to spell, use good grammar and other writin

Isn't something FUCKED UP here? Here's a suggestion -- if you want students to be original in their essays, then don't reward them based on how many catch phrases about "diversity", "community service", and all that bullshit. Reward essays that 1) tell you something good about the student, and 2) tell you SOMETHING about the student other than their ability to understand and replicate what ridiculous pseudopolitical buzzword gibberish you happen to be enamored with due to some passing fad.

One wins a prize by submitting a "slogan" on a postcard. Enter as often as you wish> I think these contests occurred mid-century. I recall these postcard contests faded when personal printers could churn them out by the tens of thousands.

Lazlo: I heard you were studying for Hathaway's test so I dug through the computer and found every question Hathaway's ever asked on every final he's ever given.

Chris: I didn't get you anything! Are those they?

Lazlo: No, these are entries for the Frito-Lay sweepstakes, no purchase necessary, enter as often as you like, so I am. This batch makes 1,650,000. I figure I should win 32.4% of the prizes, including the car.

I personally don't see the problem with judging a photo instead of an essay. Especially since it isn't something that students will have already done 100 of, so it will likely inspire more creativity and originality. A really good photo can say just as much as a good essay, and is arguably harder to put together. Plus it is easier to judge and easier to show off when you announce the winner.

That said, the "tweet" angle isn't really relevant or helpful, but I think it is just a way to get more eyeballs and try to appeal to younger folks. It seems to be working, at any rate.